Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Ironhorse]

Long post, scroll by if you want to cut to the chase.

Some time ago I developed some health issues and started making a list of things I’d like to do. One of them was to go back to Sturgis.  The last time I was there was 1998.  So I reached out to Cam Lag and he put me in touch with Jason Brown, Kyle and Jimmy Vick who had the keys, so to speak to the house in Lead, SD.

Then I reached out to James Clegg and John Shimada.  I’ve known James since 1987 and he and I have toured over most of the Western States.  I promised James that if he agreed to come with me that we would finally get to visit Glacier National Park.  John was my neighbor in LA and along with James has been to more CVO GTGs than most folks who own a CVO, and he has Honda. But John hadn’t been on his bike in years, the loss of Roger Lane (Trappedog) and my cousin Alan’s accident left John shaken. But with time and encouragement James and I convinced John to come along with us. Then Cam passed and we were all shaken a bit.

Set forth below is my best recollection of the ride.

Day one.
James Clegg and I rode 430 miles south to my old neighborhood in LA. There we met up with John Shimada.

Day two.
The three of us rode north. We passed through Malibu and the Palisades. The destruction from the fire is horrifying. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. About 346 miles later we were in Monterey where we had an excellent dinner.

Day three.
We rode about 262 miles passing through the observatory on Mt. Hamilton. Then James took John to his place in Penn Valley and I went home to Auburn

Day four.
It was an off the bike day today as we did laundry and resupply. That night we had dinner with our wives Cynthia Spear Clegg and Denise Paz. The next day we launched in full force to Sturgis, SD for the motorcycle rally. Then on to Glacier National Park.

Personal reflection.
I left LA in 2022 and came north. There are many things i miss about LA, the people, the culture, the food, the weather, the cosmopolitan faces. Most of all I miss my neighborhood of Westchester and the families I have come to know. What I do not miss is the traffic and congestion. On the ride down through the San Fernando valley and west side on the 405 we were splitting lanes in crawling traffic. When folks in Auburn complain about the traffic on 80 I laugh They really don’t know traffic.

Day five.
After a satisfying breakfast in Grass Valley, CA we headed out. We had a short stop at the Harley dealer in Reno, NV and pressed on. We had a late lunch in Winnemucca, NV and then on to Elko, NV for the night. The weather was warm and windy with strong cross winds and gusts.

Day six.
After a fine breakfast out of the “Bin O’Food” at the Best Western we departed Elko, NV. But first we had a bit of "double knavery at the fillin’ station". The kind of fun only friends can have. The day was what I call clocking the miles as we only stopped for gas and rest breaks. We had lunch in Salt Lake City where our waitress Julie was nice enough to give us the hotel discount. By 6pm Mountain Time we pulled into Lyman, WY. a small Hamlet off Hwy 80. Dinner was at the Cowboy Cafe, a truck stop diner.

Personal note:
Riding alongside the great Salt Lake was not unlike spending time in a salt lounge. My sinuses and skin could feel it. Having tired of the music on my phone I played a book on tape. I listened to a production of Shakespeare’s Othello. My father would be proud.

Day seven.
We had breakfast at the same Cowboy Cafe we had dinner in last night. I had oatmeal, scrambled eggs and sausage. Then we began a leisurely ride to Casper, WY. We enjoyed passing through the small towns, magnificent terrain and scenery and crossed over the Continental Divide. Lunch was in Lander. WY. We pulled into Casper, WY around 3:30pm. After we unpacked, we found out the AC in our room wasn’t working. As I bordered on going “Full on Karen” with the front desk they gave us different rooms. Still we had to pack up again, move rooms and unpack.

Dinner was at the restaurant adjacent to the hotel. We all had salads. For dessert it was Root Beer Floats! If I had to come up with a motto for this state it would be “Wyoming, where everything ALMOST works”. Several of the gas stations had non-working gas pumps. Of course the ones that did work were the ones with high octane. Then the AC in our first room didn’t work. Lastly, the restaurant was out of Thousand Island dressing. How can you be out of that? It’s just mayonnaise and ketchup.

Day eight
We left Casper, WY on the way to Lead, SD which would be our home base for the next couple of days. As we worked our way out of Wyoming we encountered the ubiquitous non-operational fuel pumps. We’re not sure what that’s about. We had lunch in Newcastle before the final leg. As we got closer to Lead we saw the terrain change into the famous Black Hills. The nearer we got the more motorcycles we saw. It was hot when we pulled into town and met Kyle, Jimmy, Heath and Red. We unloaded and cooled down. John and I went grocery shopping while James rested and did laundry. John and I dined at the Stamp Mill restaurant, a former boarding house for miners. Tomorrow, we start exploring!

Day nine.
We started with breakfast at a local hotel casino. We got “The Classic”, 2 eggs, hash browns and toast and coffee for $3.99. Extra for ham, bacon and sausage. Our first stop was Sturgis. We were there 5 days early and that’s what we planned. Not all the vendors and exhibits were open and running but that’s okay. We got the flavor of the place and avoided the crowds that will descend in just a few days. We had lunch at Uncle Louie's Diner on Main St, Sturgis. I had a grilled cheese sandwich, ham, tomatoes and onion rings. From there we rode out to The Devils Tower. It was hot and crowded but enjoyable. The lack of alien visitors proves that there is no intelligent life here.

[Ironhorse]

Day ten
As usual we started the morning with “The Classic” breakfast. Then we headed out. Our first stop was Rapid City to check out the Harley dealership. That place was hosting a lot of vendors. We only bought shirts because we had to get on the road again. Our next stop was Mt. Rushmore. It was a delightful ride to get there on the twisty roads. The monument was a buzzing hive of riders, families and tour buses. We dined at the cafe, I had bison chili and a salad. Then we took Needles Highway. It’s a two-lane road that winds through Custer State Park. The route is dotted with a series of tiny tunnels. Then we rode Iron Mountain Road. This one also had some tunnels as well as some wood trestle bridges. On our way to Deadwood, SD we passed through Keystone, a tourist trap posing as a town. Deadwood was packed with motorcycles. We had ribeye steak dinners at the Gold Dust Casino steakhouse before heading back to the house.

Random thoughts: How come South Dakota doesn’t put traffic control devices at the entrances to the tunnel? A simple red/green light would suffice. Otherwise it’s a “game of chicken” with the traffic on the other side of the tunnel. At one point the three of us entered a tunnel and more than halfway through a car on the other side entered. As they squeezed us against the wall of the tunnel James said to the driver “you know we CAN’T back up. There should be some kind of traffic control system.

Day eleven
After breakfast we rode back to Sturgis. The crowds had grown exponentially! We looked forward to leaving this growing madness the next day. We stopped at the J&P Cycles store. John and I both bought cramp busters for the throttles on our bikes. James bought a quart of oil and a bike cover. By that time we all had enough of crowds and noise so we headed to Spearfish, SD. Spearfish is where I stayed in 1998, the last time I attended the Sturgis rally. At Spearfish John and I had Korean Chicken and James had a sandwich. Then we headed back to Lead. On the way we passed a mountain goat grazing by the side of the road. The wildlife here is amazing. Back at the house we did laundry, started packing and ate leftover Korean chicken and steak for dinner. That night we listened as the first rains we encountered tapped the roof and window.

Day twelve
We loaded up the bikes and said farewell to our new found friends Jason Brown, Kyle Vick, his father Jimmy Vick, Heath King, and Red Justice. We shoved off for breakfast and were back on the road. For lunch we stopped in Broadus, MT at the Fork and Spoon. It’s a small Native American restaurant that features farm to table dining. I had a ham sandwich and a bag of chips. To keep customers from walking away with the restroom key they attach the keys to a LARGE fork and spoon. Next on the agenda Custer’s Battlefield monument at Little Big Horn! I had been so excited to see it. As one who likes history it’s’ something that’s been on my gotta see list for a long time. With great anticipation we rolled up to Custer’s Monument only to find it was closed for repaving. I felt like the Griswalds finding out that WallyWorld was closed in the 80s movie “Vacation”. So we did the next best thing. We asked Gary the front-end loader operator to take our pictures. It was about 4:30 pm when we pulled into the La Quinta Inn Billings, MT. After 329 miles we were finished for the day. We had dinner next door at The Cracker Barrel restaurant. John and I had the fried chicken plate and James had a salad. For dessert John and I had root beer floats. Back at the hotel John and I hit the hotel gym to bring down our rising blood sugar. Tomorrow we make it to Glacier National Park. It better not be closed!

Day thirteen
We left Billings and headed north for Glacier National Park. For the most part the day was uneventful. We stopped in the small town of Stanford, MT for lunch at “T’s Happy Cafe”. Next up the Harley Dealership in Great Falls, MT. John and I bought T-Shirts while James changed out a burned-out passing lamp. We made the park by 5pm. It’s beautiful. Stunning views that change with the sunlight. We checked into our cabin, unloaded and went to dinner. The cabin was “quaint and rustic”. Most of all it was small for 3 riders and all their stuff. We made it work.

Observation: That Big Beautiful Bike shop in Great Falls is struggling. Their showroom is overstocked with new Harleys for sale. Additionally their parts department lacked basic things, like the lightbulbs James needed and brake rotors that another traveling couple needed. The service writer told us to go down to the auto parts store and buy them there. So John and I went and picked them up and they installed them. But the biggest indicator was that in addition to Harleys, they were selling off brands of motorcycles that I never heard of. They were Chinese made motorcycles no doubt along with the “Jeep” looking vehicles in the corner of the lot. Maybe this is a sign of both the economy and trade war all in one place.

I can now say I’ve been to Great Falls, VA and Great Falls, MT.

[Ironhorse]

Day fourteen
We got an early start and were off to explore the park. What we discovered was that the road less traveled is almost always the road unpaved. Since heavy touring motorcycles do not like gravel we ended that. We continued west on the Going to the Sun Road stopping to take in the stunning vistas. Pictures cannot capture the beauty. We stopped at Logans Pass That’s one of the many locations of the Continental Divide. That’s the point where water flows either west to the Pacific Ocean or East to the Atlantic. It was 3pm when we rolled into Lake McDonald Lodge in West Glacier. Our cabin was better appointed than the previous night. We unloaded the bikes, rested and went to dinner.

Day fifteen
We awoke to the sound of rain on the roof of our cabin. After breakfast we loaded up, put on our rain suits, said goodbye to Glacier National Park and headed to Missoula, MT. The rain had cleared by the time we pulled into Missoula. Missoula is home to the University of Montana. With all the students we could see and feel the energy of change. We had lunch at the Ironhorse restaurant, my moniker with the CVO riding group and the Westchester Indian Guides.  Dinner was at the Montana Club. I had the halibut.

Day sixteen
We had breakfast at the Bolt and Bruiser cafe. Their mascot is a rooster. I had a breakfast burrito. Missoula has a wonderful vibe. They are openly supportive of the LBGTQ community.

We rode on to Walla Walla, WA. We stopped for lunch in Orofino, MT. I had fish tacos. Our server was Eddy. She talked us into what else,… root beer floats. In Lewiston, MT we had a slight delay. James bike experienced a broken exhaust bracket. You know the one, it attaches the exhaust to the transmission housing. The bracket broke and worked the head pipe loose. Luckily Caleb who worked at the gas station we stopped in knew the owner of a local motorcycle shop three blocks away. James reached out to him and he agreed to open up his shop on a Sunday and get James up and running. Texas John runs 8th Day Cycles, an independent repair and custom shop. He does excellent work. He replaced the broken exhaust bracket with a new one and torqued everything down. Two and a half hours later we were back on the road. By the time we pulled into Walla Walla we were exhausted. We checked into our room and ordered in Indian food.

Day seventeen
After the usual breakfast out of the” Bin O’food” we loaded up and headed out.  At our first gas stop I experienced a gas nozzle malfunction. The nozzle did not stop when the tank was full and gasoline spurted out showering me in 87 octane. For the first time ever I wished for the nozzles like the California ones with Rubber Boot thing. I tried to clean up as best as possible. Gas even got on my drink cup. I took a sip and tasted 87 octane. I threw the whole thing away and James let me use his bottle. Even after 4 hours of riding the smell did not evaporate. For most of our 9hr and 50min day the winds buffeted us. It was unnerving to be pushed around the freeway traffic lanes like a toy. The mental concentration and physical effort was fatiguing. For lunch we stopped at the Multnomah lodge. As we waited to be seated I closed my eyes and napped in a chair in the lobby still smelling of gasoline. We dined next to a beautiful waterfall. I had a club sandwich, a cup of salmon chowder and we all shared bacon wrapped date bruschetta.

From there we harkened to the words of Horace Greeley to “Go west young (old) man”. In our search for a gas station we rode through the small and charming town of Corbett. We hit Portland around rush hour and did our best to navigate the freeways. We had one error which took us past the University area.

As we approached Tillamook we came upon the small town of Lee’s Camp. There we met Bryan and his son Marcus. They run the small general store. Bryan intrigued me, originally from New Orleans, Louisiana he gave off the energy of one who has figured out life. Listening to his life story is what makes motorcycle trips such a rich and fulfilling experience.

As soon as we got into our room I stripped of all my clothes, took the armor out of my jacket, changed and headed to the laundromat. I can’t remember the last time I was frustrated with a simple process like doing laundry. I couldn’t get any of the machines to work. I was getting angry and frustrated. I looked around the room for help and saw a lovely Mexican/American family sitting at a table. The kids were playing under the watchful eye of the grandmother while the mom and dad ate and talked. I went over, and in my best Spanish apologized for the interruption and asked if anyone could help explain the machines to me. The wife came over and in Spanish explained which machines worked and which were out of order. She told me to use quarters and not the card reader. Afterwards I asked her if she could still smell gasoline on my clothes and she said she couldn’t. I thanked her. It’s families like hers that make our country great. How anybody could see them as a national threat or a drain on society is beyond ALL reason. Afterwards James took the laundry back to the room and John and I had a good enough Chinese dinner at a local restaurant.

[Ironhorse]

Day eighteen
Our breakfast this morning consisted of either a breakfast burrito or breakfast sandwich, compliments of the inn. John and I had burritos and James had the sandwich. The real treat was meeting fellow rider Aurel Cara. Originally from Romania he now lives in Campbell, CA. He told us he had ridden to Banff, Calgary and parts of the Yukon. I guess his European accent and fair skin tone allowed him easy access into the states.

Wearing clothes free from the smell of gasoline we rode south. We passed through many small cute coastal towns that dotted the rugged and rocky Oregon coast. We had lunch at Clawsons Wheelhouse in Florence, OR. I had a cup of clam chowder and halibut. It was very good but not quite the seafood meal I’ve been searching for. Further down the coast we stopped in the small town of Bandon. There we picked up candy at the Cranberry Sweets store! Words and pictures cannot convey the beautiful coastline. Every bend in the road brought new vistas. After 306 miles and 9 hours of riding the curves we arrived in Crescent City, CA. The accommodations were less than expected. We were on the 3rd floor, there was no elevator, no a/c, the one window didn’t have a screen and the balcony had plexiglass on it to keep out the ocean breeze. I was not pleased. We walked to the Harbor House for dinner and there I found the seafood meal I’ve been searching for. John and I had a combination seafood boil of crab legs, shrimp, clams, sausage, corn and veggies. It almost made up for the room.

Day nineteen
It was an easy 107 miles from Crescent City, CA to Fortuna, CA. We stopped by the Ingomar Club in Eureka and had lunch at the Humboldt Smoke House. I had the BBQ Chicken Mac and Cheese. We checked into our room in Fortuna early, unloaded and fell asleep. James was up the previous night till 1am working. We had dinner at a local Italian restaurant. The food was average. I had linguine and clams.

Day twenty.
We did 212 miles from Fortuna, CA to Clear Lake, CA. On the way we rode the Avenue of the Giants where the majestic Redwoods grow. We did the tourist thing and paid money to ride through the hole cut in the 2,400 year old Chandelier Redwood tree. Then we rode down the coast. Say what you will about California, but there are very few places where you can go from the forest of Redwoods to a rugged coastline in minutes. We had lunch in the coastal town of Ft. Bragg. I had the fish and chips as we overlooked the harbor. After lunch we came inland where the temperatures were hotter. By the time we made Clear Lake, CA it was in the 90s.
 
Day twenty-one
After a brief ride around Clear Lake we headed east. The temperatures climbed into the 90s as we made our way across the valley floor. When we passed Penn Valley James peeled off for home. John and I continued down to Auburn where we met Denise for lunch. It was a short 145 mile ride home that day.

After 21 days and 5,300 miles our adventure has come full circle.
The saying goes that in life it’s the journey and not the destination that matters. It’s not the places, but the people that matter. With James and John on motorcycles that is true. The love, camaraderie and richness we shared on the road is incalculable. Whether we were crammed in a tiny cabin, battling fierce cross winds on the freeway, wandering through some small town in search of fuel what mattered was that we were together. The trip and destination was secondary to the friendship. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard, so deep, so long and so much.

I will try and post as many photos as I can in order.

Mark

[Ironhorse]

The most Nevada poster I have ever  seen.

Sharing the giant burrito!

[Ironhorse]

The Cowboy Cafe at the local truck stop.

James pointed out that this rig was hauling cars for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system.  i think they're made in Baltimore.

[Ironhorse]

At a roadside rest stop.

Cooling our heels at the Lead house.

Dinner in Lead, SD

[Ironhorse]

Devils Tower!

[Ironhorse]

Mt. Rushmore!

[Ironhorse]

I found an '06 like mine.  I'll bet it probably doesn't have 112,000 on the clock.

The streets of Deadwood.

[Ironhorse]

On the streets of Sturgis!

James Clegg, without his leadership i'd be broke and lost.

[Ironhorse]

Dining at the Fork and Spoon.

Little Big Horn.  Too bad it was closed the day we arrived.

[Ironhorse]

My first time in Glacier National Park.

Our cabin in the park was tiny, but the view was stunning!

[Ironhorse]

The many looks of Glacier National Park.  The guide said that global warming has had an effect on all the glaciers.

[Ironhorse]

Lake McDonald.  The water was surprisingly warm!